


Invitation

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Number The Stars [7]
Category: Numb3rs, Stargate Atlantis, Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6292882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: Stargate Atlantis/Numb3rs, John Sheppard + Charlie Eppes (+ Ronon Dex), Sheppard has some kind of math doctorate and he knows Charlie from some math thing, and now the SGC wants him to recruit Charlie. Set Post-Enemy at the Gate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invitation

Charlie tugged off his headphones and abandoned his chalkboard full of calculations when Dad hollered for him to come into the house, come see what had happened in Frisco Bay.  
  
Something massive had crash-landed there. No one could see it, but the Navy had set up a blockade there. There was some leaked satellite footage of an explosion in space, just above the planet. Some news outlets were linking that explosion to another earlier explosion in the Nevada desert (that conspiracy theorists were claiming was Area 51).  
  
Whatever had landed in Frisco Bay, it was a big deal if the armed forces were responding like that.  
  
Whenever Charlie thought of the armed forces, he couldn't help but think of Amita. She'd had the choice to stay on at Cal Tech as a professor or a chance to go to Harvard for a fellowship. She'd turned down Harvard, he was sure she was going to stay with him, and then the Air Force had come calling. Wanted her expertise overseas.  
  
And she was gone.  
  
Charlie had more pressing issues to deal with, like catching a killer, so he returned to the garage and his calculations, put on his headphones and shut out the world.  
  
The next day his students were buzzing with all the latest news about what they were claiming was an alien space ship in the waters off the coast, and it took a bit to settle them down. Charlie was amused by their enthusiasm, but their tendency to believe everything that crossed their paths on social media because it was accompanied by a shiny, oversimplified infographic was naive and made him despair of their ability to engage in the critical thinking this level of mathematics demanded of them.  
  
But then his colleagues were talking about it, too, and sharing around a paper about the McKay-Miller Interdimensional Bridge, and the math and physics in it had Charlie intrigued and Larry almost out of his mind with excitement.  
  
Maybe there was more to those alien space ship rumors than Charlie had given them credit for. Don couldn't tell him a thing, military wasn't his deal, and Granger had been Army, not Air Force, and apparently alien space ships were the ambit of the Air Force these days.  
  
Charlie wondered if Amita had worked with alien space ships for the Air Force, had been involved in any of the new science and math that his colleagues said was going to come pouring out once the alien space ship was declassified.  
  
He was in the middle of a lecture when the door opened, and he paused, his heart skipping a beat. He kept hoping to see Amita, had caught glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye, but whenever he turned, she was never there. When he turned to the door this time, for some reason, he fully expected it to be her.  
  
It wasn't.  
  
He stared at the man in the crisp blue Air Force uniform.  
  
"Brendan? Brendan Dean?"  
  
"It's Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard these days, actually," he said, and it really was him. There was a giant of a man behind him. The man was wearing loose pants and a sleeveless shirt like so many of the hippie guru kids on campus, and he had impressive dreadlocks, but he looked anything but peace-loving.  
  
Charlie couldn't help but smile. He and Brendan had gone through some of their graduate-level math courses together, though Charlie had been much younger at the time.  
  
"Pardon me," Charlie said to his students, and he crossed the room to shake Brendan's hand. He could feel all eyes on him.  
  
"You know this guy?" Brendan's companion asked. "That why Woolsey sent you?"  
  
Charlie began to say, "We've known each other since –" Since Brendan had stopped a couple of frat boys from beating up a pre-teen prodigy wandering around campus, bewildered and lost.  
  
Brendan said, "Since college. When I said the NSA was math nerds with guns, I wasn't just talking about the _other_ agents."  
  
Brendan's companion smirked. "Right."  
  
"NSA?" Charlie asked. "But you're wearing –"

"An Air Force uniform. And going by a different name. Long story." Brendan smiled, and Charlie remembered the fierce rush of admiration he'd felt for Brendan, who'd always been kind to him, never treated him like he was a stupid kid but never burdened him like he was an adult, and who had somehow managed to be both brilliant at math and really cool and charming with the ladies. "But part of that long story involves the alien city in Frisco Bay I'm sure you've all been hearing about."  
  
"City? I thought it was a space ship." Charlie kept his voice low.  
  
"Both," Brendan said. "I've been involved in the military program that's been partially in charge of running that city. And that military program is interested in your mathematical expertise."  
  
The big guy grunted. "Why do we need another math nerd? We have Amita."  
  
Charlie felt his heart stop. "Amita?"  
  
"Dr. Amita Ramanujan," Brendan said. "I understand she studied with you and worked with you for a while. She's been with my part of the program pretty much since its inception. She was the one who recommended we extend an invitation to you." There was a knowing glint in his eye.  
  
And then the big guy raised his eyebrows. "I thought I recognized you. Amita has pictures of you on her phone thing. You were her boyfriend, right?"  
  
"Ronon," Brendan said warningly.  
  
Ronon shrugged. "What? Just making an observation."  
  
Brendan sighed. "I knew I should've brought Teyla."  
  
"Where is Amita?" Charlie asked.  
  
"If you're willing to consider the Air Force's offer," Brendan said, "we can take you to where she is."  
  
Charlie nodded, patted himself down. Phone, wallet, keys. "Right. Let's go."  
  
Brendan nodded in the direction of the classroom. "Don't you have a lecture to finish?"  
  
"Nope." Not if he would finally get to see Amita again. Charlie hollered over his shoulder, "Class dismissed. Read the next three chapters."  
  
None of the students moved, staring at Charlie and Brendan and Ronon intently, nudging each other and whispering.  
  
Brendan looked amused. "C'mon, Charlie. Looks like they might need a minute to process your instructions." He turned and left the classroom, and Charlie followed him.  
  
"So, John Sheppard? Why that name?"  
  
"Kinda like Oliver Twist. They mis-aligned the alphabets and started randomly assigning names. If I'd gotten to the legend office one second too late, I'd have been Kyle Trenton." Outside of the building, several two more people were waiting, a broad-shouldered man with thinning hair and blue eyes and a beautiful dark-skinned woman.  
  
"This is the guy?" The man looked Charlie up and down, taking in his t-shirt and jeans and sneakers and looking dubious.  
  
The woman smiled. "Hello, Dr. Eppes. Amita has told me so much about you."  
  
"She has?" The man cast the woman a betrayed look.  
  
She inclined her head. "I believe you call it 'girl talk'."  
  
"Let's go," Brendan said. He pulled open the door of a dark sedan with government plates.  
  
Charlie took a deep breath, and then he climbed in.


End file.
